Jiffy Lube Live Bans Tailgating

As first reported by InsideNova, Jiffy Lube Live (formerly Nissan Pavilion) in Bristow, Virginia, one of the area’s biggest concert venues, has moved to ban all forms of tailgating in their parking lots.

According to Jiffy Lube, Live Nation, and the Prince William County Police, the new policy has been put in place because:

“The safety of the fans is of paramount importance and we have an ongoing commitment to work with the local police department on all shows to ensure a safe environment for all of our fans. As part of this commitment, it has been determined that it is in the best interest of the fans and their overall experience at the venue to not allow tailgating.”

The move comes just as outdoor summer concerts are set to start, and will be strictly enforced during Saturday’s WMZQ country music festival at Jiffy Lube Live. Parking lot gates for the concert will open at 3pm, instead of noon, as usual, and if police “see anyone tailgating or drinking, they’ll give one warning. After that, Jiffy Lube officials will obtain trespassing paperwork and have the offenders removed from the property” The previous policy was also against tailgating, but police and security tended to look the other way as long as there was no underage drinking or excessive rowdiness.

While ostensibly a move to prevent drunk driving, owing to several high profile post-concert accidents in the last few years, the move reeks of hypocrisy and money grabbing, since the venue will still serve (very overpriced) beers inside the gates.

The new policy will likely be extremely unpopular with the general public (just ask Dan Snyder how well a tailgate ban turned out) and serious backlash has already started. There is already a Facebook group calling for a boycott that has over 2500 fans.

Tailgating is one of the main draws for many summer concerts, such as Jimmy Buffett, where the tailgate parties are often more of a draw than the concert itself. So, this is just one more strike against a venue that is already plagued by problems. Jiffy Lube Live is notorious for being very inaccessible and for pre- and post-concert traffic jams that can last for hours. Hopefully it will inspire promoters to move to more transit-friendly locations, such as Nationals Park.

Addison is a fourth generation Washingtonian, actually born and raised within city limits of DC. He currently resides in Arlington and works in DC as a government lackey. Addison can be reached at addison (at) welovedc.com

17 thoughts on “Jiffy Lube Live Bans Tailgating”

One of the interesting questions is: do the other area outdoor concert venues allow for tailgating? I think Merriweather doesn’t, but I’m not sure what Wolf Trap says, though I know you can bring in your own food & drink at Wolf Trap…

I have never had an issue tailgating at Merriweather. There is a heavy police presence, but all they do is check IDs for groups that seem to be underage and them make them pour out all their booze. The last show I was at there, they caught some teens with a full handle of rum that they then poured on the ground *sheds a tear*

Have they thought about how mad people are going to be when they haven’t even parked yet and the concert is starting? There is no way they can fill the parking lot in an hour, much less the venue in addition. This is ridiculous.

Jiffy Lube will NEVER EVER EVER get another dime from me. Jiffy lube can go F themselves. I hope Jimmy Buffet and every other performer cancels their events are your crappy venue. What was bad before, is now so bad it will no longer be worth going for anyone. I hope your venue fails, and your company FAILS. You do not deserve our patronage. Further, your statements do not make any sense. You say this is to abide by laws prohibiting drinking in public, yet you say that violators will be issued a no trespass citation? How can this be? either the parking lots at JLL are PRIVATE, in which case you CAN drink, and it is NOT considered in public, OR, they are PUBLIC, in which case you can NOT issue a no trespass citation. I suspect this however is NOT about anyone’s safety, but rather having a captive audience to charge exorbanent prices for beer/ liquor to. If it WAS about public safety and to prevent drunk driving, then you would NOT SELL ANY ALCOHOL inside the venue AT ALL. This is about a money hungry company, attempting to rape the wallets of fans of great artists, all of whom should CANCEL their shows at any event you are affiliated with. Shame on you.

Why would anyone *EVER* go to this venue? I visited once in 2000 to see The Who and spent more time trying to exit the parking lot than I did at the show – and we arrived early enough to see the opening band.

How can a venue that’s been around this long not have a viable parking plan? Or a parking plan period?

The above is simply the icing on the cake. It’s really easy to just forego it altogether, as the hassle of getting out there is in no way redeemed by any show actually booked out there. I cannot think of a single person I’ve ever met who enjoys Jiffy Nissan whatsoever. There’s absolutely no reason to head out there at all.

How is it Trespassing if you paid to park there?
Each ticket includes price of parking..this is nuts just another reason why this is the WORST VENUE on the EAST COAST…over zealous cops dragging handcuffed kids thru gravel parking lot for selling a T-Shirt at Widespread Panic (at least that band has learned not to play there) Live Nation SUCKS!!!

Just got my parking passes for Kenny Chesney at FedEx field. While parking was kind of a rip off, the passes say in big letters “COME EARLY”. FedEx is a great place to tailgate. During Skins season, at least, there are plentiful toilets plus people in golf carts selling cigars etc.

Had I known all of this prior to purchasing my tickets, I would NOT be going. The parking situation is already atrocious; the last concert I went to it took OVER AN HOUR just to get out of the parking lot. With the new no-tailgating rule on top of that, I will not be attending any more Jiffy Lube Live concerts!!!

I agree with DT here. People who tailgate do so for the atmosphere, comraderie, and to save money on booze (not everyone can afford $10 a beer inside the venue). These same people are NOT going to just pay the extra $$$ to drink overpriced beers inside. They will drink their own alcohol elsewhere before the show then DRIVE to the venue.

The prince william county police “privately” own that parking lot that’s why this happened. I will not go unless I hit the lottery which then I could buy as many F*ING ELEVEN dollar beers I want. Who sells eleven dollar beers?

attended Jason Aldean – great concert – horrible location. Have attended hundreds of concerts at Nissan/JLL and am in the 40+ age group. We got on Wellington Rd at 3:22, got to the parking lot at 4:57. Got to the lawn at 5:43. The only thing that kept us from missing the headliner was that this was such a long day event. Imagine an 8:00 concert, we’ll get in just in time to leave. If 50% of the college age concert goers we saw were of age to drink I’d be suprised. One group of girls about 20 feet behind us were throwing up right there on the lawn and that was at 6:00. OBVIOUSLY she didn’t get drunk tailgating – she spent her college allowance on $11 beers INSIDE and got that drunk that quick. We have always gone for the socializing during tailgating as we always have a group of atleast 6. We’re responsible enough to have a DD, we have done the pop up canopies and grill, but ALWAYS bring garbage bags for us and anyone around that needs them and insist on cleaning up before we go in. We saw while in line waiting on wellington SO many people pulling over to go to the bathroom – it was VERY obvious that many were drinking in their cars while waiting to park WHILE DRIVING. All this no tailgating is causing is young folks drinking either before they leave to arrive there or WHILE IN THE CAR waiting on wellington to get to the parking lot. Also saw several alcoholic type containers that aren’t sold there – so people were sneaking things in. If they REALLY want to cut down on drunk driving, then open early allow the tailgating, officers check for underage drinking or over indulgance and actually do something about it and shut the beer sales down on the inside an hour and a half before the concert is over. It’s those beers toward the end of the night that cause the drunk driving. I knew the adult and child that died. I have raised my own children to NEVER drink and drive. It’s all about responsibility. JLL needs to take on that responsibility as well. Find a way to punish the offenders, not to also punish the folks that are mature and responsible enough to enjoy it safely – the drinking is going to go on with or without the rules – having it happen before is much better than later – the irresponsible drinkers would have time to sober up. If we had not already purchased the group of country concert tickets as well as buffett, we would DEFINATELY NOT be going. After being a concert goer there for over 10 years, they have now lost our business. This is our last year there. That’s ashame. We’ll be traveling much further to attend events at Merriweather, Wolftrap and RFK.

Addison H

Addison is a fourth generation Washingtonian, actually born and raised within city limits of DC. He currently resides in Arlington and works in DC as a government lackey. Addison can be reached at addison (at) welovedc.com

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